On Our CoverOyster TimesIn a restored reef, Chesapeake Bays native oyster, Crassostrea virginica, thrives, bringing back with it the whole ecosystem. Photo courtesy of PaynterLab of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Oyster Timesby M.L. Faunce, Sandra Martin and Mark Burns Walk with us through the declining times of Chesapeake Bays native oyster and the rising times of its alien cousin, Ariakensis.

Way Downstream:In Virginia, developers say that even for $30 millon, they wont spare the ax on ancient trees surviving Bayside on Crows Nest peninsula From Yale University, science we can all use: discovering how mosquitos find us can help us block them In Maine actor Paul Newman  there last summer to film Maine novelist Richard Russos Empire Falls  likes the state so well he donates $10,000 to help build an 18-mile bike trail In Hong Kong, among the spots feeling SARS wide ripples are snake (as in steak) houses plus, last but not least, this weeks Creature Feature: From Washington, D.C., GloFish  genetically engineered deco-fish that glow in the dark  drive two consumer groups to court.